COBALT Executive & Sessions Committee

Carolyn P. Gravit is Director of Public Legal Education for the Colorado and Denver Bar Associations

2017 - 2018 COBALT Executive Committee

Katy J. H. Dunn, COBALT Chair, is Assistant General Counsel with Forest City Stapleton, Inc., the master developer for the former Stapleton International Airport. Her practice is primarily real estate development, including negotiation and drafting of purchase and sale agreements, brownfields regulatory issues, negotiations with the City and County of Denver on a variety of public-private development matters, managing outside counsel on a variety of matters, and due diligence issues. She serves on the Real Estate Section Council of the Colorado Bar Association. She is a graduate of the Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management Advancing Leader certification program. Ms. Dunn obtained her Juris Doctor from the University of California Hastings College of Law, and was Senior Executive Editor of the Law Review and worked in the Civil Justice Clinic during her time there, before graduating and being sworn in to the Colorado Bar in 2000. Prior to that, she worked at the biotechnology firm Genentech, Inc., in the Legal Department, after graduating from the University of Oregon with a B.A. in Journalism. Katy is a proud member of the 2014 COBALT class, and the 2015 Sessions Committee. She was chair of the Sessions Committee for 2016, and is Chair-Elect of COBALT for 2017. She lives in Stapleton with her amazing husband and their equally amazing son.

Porya Mansorian, COBALT Chair Elect, a well-respected Colorado trial lawyer, focuses on personal injury, medical negligence, and nursing home abuse cases. Formerly a defense attorney, Mansorian has represented insurance companies, physicians, hospitals, nurses, medical device manufacturers and nursing homes. Moving to the Plaintiff’s side, he has become a tireless advocate for injured Coloradans. As a result of his commitment to his clients and the Colorado community, Mansorian recently was named the 2015 Colorado New Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association. In 2014, Mansorian also received the Tommy Drinkwine Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year Award. Mansorian is very active in prevention and stopping of distracted driving in the community. He has presented to thousands of high school students about the dangers and consequences of driving distracted. His efforts, in collaboration with the organization EndDD, are saving lives across the State of Colorado and the United States. Mansorian is a trained biomedical engineer who had the privilege of supporting efforts to advance the care and treatment of children with cerebral palsy before attending law school. This and similar experiences in the medical industry, coupled with his rigorous training in litigation and trial advocacy, have enabled Mansorian to help obtain outstanding results for his health care clients as their trial attorney.

Mariana Vielma, COBALTWhisperer, currently practices with the Adams County Attorney’s Office. After two and a half years on the Child Welfare legal team, she currently works in the areas of child support enforcement and fraud recovery through civil & bankruptcy courts. As a prosecutor in the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s office from 2007 to 2013, she served Adams County in a variety of leadership roles within the office and on juvenile justice initiatives, both locally and State-wide. She clerked for the Honorable Judges Donald Marshall and John Popovich in Adams County District Court. Prior to law school, Mariana was a paralegal for many years while earning her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Management from the University of Texas at El Paso (2001). She earned her law degree at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, MN (2005). Mariana is active in the Adams/Broomfield Bar Association (ABBA) where she has served as Secretary, Treasurer, and President. Since 2008 she has served as the Treasurer of the 17th Judicial District’s Access to Justice Committee. Since 2009, the first year of the annual Access to Justice Sean May Memorial Run, Mariana has served as co-chair for the event. In 2009 she was honored by ABBA as the Volunteer Attorney of the Year, recognizing her commitment to community service, her leadership in youth ministry, and her contributions to local bar association projects, events, and community youth & service projects. Mariana has served on the CBA Nominating Committee, the Colorado Mentoring Program’s Advisory Committee on Diversity, and currently serves on the Chief Justice Commission and the CBA Executive Council. She is a member of the 2009 COBALT class, and has since served on COBALT Sessions and Executive Committees.

Leia G. Ursery, COBALT Immediate Past Chair, is a partner at Lindquist & Vennum LLP, who specializes in estate planning, estate and trust litigation/administration and probate protective proceedings, including guardianships and conservatorships. During her last year of law school, Leia served as the law clerk for the Honorable Judge C. Jean Stewart of the Denver Probate Court. Thereafter, she began her practice at Olsen & Traeger, LLP, in October 2004. In 2011, Leia helped to establish the Probate Practicum at the University of Denver, College of Law, which she continues to teach at this time. Additionally, Leia teaches Estate and Gift Taxation at the University of Colorado - Denver in the Masters of Taxation program. She is a member of the Statutory Revisions and Orange Book Committees of the Colorado Bar Association - Trust and Estate Section and a former member and Chair of the Colorado Association Young Lawyers Division Executive Council. Leia concentrates her volunteer efforts within the community by serving as a frequent volunteer for Colorado Lawyers for Colorado Veterans, Senior Law Day, Lawline 9, the Pro Se Clinic at the Denver Probate Court, and the Wills Lab and Tribal Wills Clinic provided through the University of Denver, College of Law. Leia was selected for the Class of 2013 Colorado Bar Association Leadership Training (COBALT) program.

Amy Petri Beard, COBALT Sessions Chair, is currently employed with the Seventeenth Judicial District Attorney’s Office as a Senior Deputy District Attorney. She is assigned to prosecute cases involving child victims. In June 2016, she was elected Vice-President of the Adams Broomfield Bar Association. She is a 2016 COBALT graduate, on the Colorado Bar Association High School Mock Trial Committee, is the Adams/Broomfield High School Regional Mock Trial Coordinator, is a member of the Colorado Women's Bar Association, and is on the Broomfield Library Board.

COBALT Events/Programs Committee Chair

Miro Kovacevic, COBALT Alumni Committee Chair, is currently a member with the law firm of Fisher & Associates, P.C. He has a broad commercial litigation and real estate practice, and is the firm’s manager in those practice areas. After graduating from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2004, Miro completed a clerkship with the Honorable Hilda G. Tagle, U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Texas. Miro is a graduate of the 2013 COBALT class. He currently serves on the COBALT Executive Committee and is a representative for the Denver Bar Association to the Colorado Bar Association Board of Governors. Miro is also a loyal volunteer of the American Red Cross, currently serving as the External Relations Section Chief for the Region of Colorado and Wyoming.

2017 - 2018 COBALT Sessions Committee

Ruchi Kapoor graduated from the University of Colorado Law School in 2010 and subsequently clerked for the Denver Juvenile Court, igniting a passion for child welfare law. After clerking, she spent three years in private practice solely devoted to appellate and post-conviction work, and honed her ability to do dependency and neglect appeals. Ruchi has been a frequent trainer on appellate topics in juvenile contexts, and is passionate about helping parents receive adequate appellate representation.

Pax Moultrie is an Assistant County Attorney with the Human Services Litigation Section of the Arapahoe County Attorney’s Office. Ms. Moultrie received her B.A. in Anthropology and International Studies from Washington University in St. Louis in 2001. After receiving her J.D. from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2006, Ms. Moultrie served as law clerk to the Honorable Brian D. Boatright, Colorado Supreme Court Justice, during Justice Boatright’s tenure as Presiding Juvenile Judge for the First Judicial District. Ms. Moultrie also served as law clerk and judicial assistant to the Honorable Gregory J. Hobbs, Jr., Colorado Supreme Court (ret.), during the Court’s 2007-2008 term. Prior to joining the Arapahoe County Attorney’s Office in 2011, Ms. Moultrie litigated child welfare matters as an Assistant County Attorney with the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office from 2008-2011. Ms. Moultrie has been actively involved with the Juvenile Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association for several years, and serves as a co-editor for juvenile law articles for The Colorado Lawyer. Her additional community involvement includes serving as a member of the Respondent Parents’ Counsel Work Group in 2014, serving as a board member for Governor’s Executive Clemency Advisory Board, serving as a board member for Colorado’s Office of the Child Protection Ombudsman, and volunteering as a reading tutor for elementary school students.

Kathryn Starnella is an assistant attorney general at the Colorado Attorney General’s Office where she primarily handles lawsuits concerning civil rights issues. While at the Attorney General’s Office, she has also handled constitutional challenges to the state’s laws and elections law-related challenges. Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, Kathryn served as a law clerk for Judge Christine Arguello. Before that, she practiced law in New York City where she worked on cases involving a variety of commercial disputes. Kathryn is a graduate of Northwestern University and Northwestern University School of Law. Kathryn currently serves on the board for the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association, is a mentor in the law school pipeline program, Law School . . . Yes We Can, and volunteers as a coach for Arrupe Jesuit High School’s mock trial team. She also serves on the board of Northwestern University’s Law Club of Denver, Northwestern’s Alumni Admission’s Council, and interviews applicants to the law school

Tariq Sheikh is a Senior Deputy District Attorney in the 17th Judicial District. He specializes in juvenile crime and crimes against children. Tariq graduated from Temple University in 2005, at which point he joined the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. Tariq moved to Colorado in 2011 and joined the 17th Judicial District. He has conducted several hundred trials throughout his career. He also represents the Colorado District Attorney’s Council on a number of policy matters.